Slide bearing weight compensator



Aug. 26, 1952 M. DE HAAS 2,608,449

SLIDE BEARING WEIGHT COMPENSATQR Filed Nov. 1a, 1948 2 smamsrsnm 1 IN VEN TOR.

MAX Def/4.45

W/TMES s BY Aug. 26, 1952 M. DE HAAs SLIDE BEARING WEIGHT COMPENSA'ITOR 2 Si-IEETS-SHEET 2 Filed Nov. 18, 1948 y INVENTOR. MAX Del-MA:

Patented Aug. 26, 1952 SLIDE BEARING 2,608,445? WEIGHT COMPENSATOR Max De Haas, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to The Monarch Machine Tool Company, a corporation of Ohio Application November 18, 1948, Serial No. 60,797

W This invention relates in general to antifriction elements wherein a bearing is forced against a bearing surface of one element by a force applied through a lever having a mechanical advantage greater than unity.

A further object of the invention is to provide an antifriction device for two relatively movable parts each having slide elements in contact wherein a bearing carried by a spring-urged lever on one part cooperates with a bearing surface on the other part to thus decrease the slidingfrictionbetween said slide elements;

A still further object of the" invention is to provide a weight compensator for a machine element wherein a roller on the machine element cooperates with a slideway on the base of the machine and the roller is carried by the machine element by a lever which in turnis urged by an adjustably compressed spring to press the roller against the slideway and thus support a proper fraction of the weight of the machine element to decrease the sliding friction between the machine element and the machine base. i

Other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring tothe following description and claims, takenin conjunction with-the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure l is a sectional side view of the invention as applied to a machine element slide;

Figure 2 is a top view of the device; and

l t Figure 3 is a sectionalview taken along the line '3 3 of Figure 2.

The antifriction device of this invention may be used in many ways and, in this application, shall be described as a device for compensating for the weight of a machine element slide such as the carriage or other slide element of a lathe. The description of this invention as being applied to the carriage of a lathe is to be taken as illustrative andnot in a limiting sense.

The device is useful in relieving the sliding friction between the slide portions of two machine elements thatare slidable relative to each other. The compensation of a portion of the weight of the superior machine element is accomplished by spring-urged lever means to achieve a mechanical advantagegreater than unityin the force applied to a bearing which acts on a bearing surface of theinferior machine element.

An application of'the invention is shown in 2 Claims. (crises-e) 2 the Figures 1, 2 and 3 where the reference char-'- acter l l denotes a base, such as the base of a lathe or other machine tool. A machine element such as a carriage I2 is adapted to slide on this base it and has a slide surface 13 in. sliding contact with a V-guideway I4 on 'the'loase H. The V-guideway l4 and slide surface l3 assure relative movement between the base II and carriage [2 along a definite path. The base ll'has a slide portion or bearing surface portion 15, and the carriage l2 carriesa bearing [6, such as a roller bearing, for cooperatingwith this bearing surface portion 15. The roller bearing [6 is carried by the carriage l2 in such a manner that a force is exerted between this bearing l6 and the vided by a mechanical advantage means which has been shown as a lever IT and a spring l8.

The carriage [2 has a cored pocket or recess l9 which is adjacent the bearing-surface portion I51 This recess is adapted to house the roller bearing l6. A shaft 20 has first and second end portions 2| and 22 which are journaled for at least partial rotation relative to the carriage l2 by bearings 23 and, respectively. Thebearings 23 and Ham fixedin place by the bearing caps 25 and 26. The cap screws 2'! are used toattach thebearing caps 25 and 26 to the carriage [2. The shaft 20 has a cylindrical eccentric portion 28 for carrying the roller bearing 16. This cylindrical-eccentric portion 28 is cylindrical about a second axis 29 that is parallel to but displaced from the shaft'axis 30. The axis of the shaft 20 is perpendicular to the direction of relative movement of the carriage l2 and base II.

A second cylindrical portion 3! is provided on the shaft 20 upon which a first end 32 of the lever I! isfirmly attached as by the key 33. A second end 34 of the lever l-l carries a protruding bolthead35 for centering the spring IS. A threaded aperture36 is provided in the carriage I2 into which a threaded bclt31 is threaded for axial adjustment therewith. The threaded bolt 31 has a depending cylindrical end portion about which the spring 18 is coiled to maintain the spring l 8 in axial alignment with the bolt3l. Abearing washer 39 maybe interposed between the bolt 31 and the spring l8 for preventionof wearon the bolt 31." A lock nut 40 is provided to engage the "threaded aperture 36 andto lock thethreaded '"boltil firmly in position. The

' A plurality of such antifriction be provided for a carriage or machine element in ment of these respective elements, as by a screw driver. The lock nut 40 may be provided with a second threaded aperture 52 to receive a bolt 43 which secures a cover plate 44 to prevent foreign matter from entering the threaded aperture 36. The carriage has been shown as having guide means 45 and 46 such as are conventionally provided for the guiding of another machine element which is slidable upon the carriage l2.

The operation of the antifriction device is accomplished by varying the stress or compression of the spring l8 by means of axial adjustment of the threaded bolt 31. By so varying the compression in the spring iii the lever I! will tend to rotate the shaft 20. Such rotational tendency of the shaft will cause the eccentric portion 28 to force the roller bearing [6 into engagement with the bearing surface portion I5. The lever I! has a high mechanical advantage in transmission of the force exerted by the spring is since i the distance between the second end 34 of the lever I1 and the shaft axis 30 may be made many times greater than the distance between the shaft axis 30 and the second axis 29 of the cylindrical eccentric portion 28. If the distance between the shaft axis 3%] and second axis 29 is regarded as a first distance, and the distance between the second end 34 of the lever 11 and the shaft axis 30 is regarded as a second distance, then the'spring force of thespring l8 multiplied by the component of the second distance perpendicular to the direction of application of the spring force will equal a proper fraction of the force between the slide [3 and V-guideway I4 multiplied by the component of the first distance perpendicular to the direction of application of the last-mentioned force. The force between the slide surface l3 and V-guideway M will be gravitational force in this instance but obviously may include other forces, such as the force between a tool and the workpiece which the machine incorporates. A proper fraction shall be defined as one wherein the degree of the numerator is less than the degree of the denominator. For practical purposes in machine tools, it has been found that the antifriction device should beadj'usted by adjustment of the threaded bolt 37 to compensate for a large portion of the weight ofthe carriage 12, for example 75 per cent, to thus retain per cent of the weight causing the sliding friction between theslide surface I3 and V-guideway l4. By retaining a sliding mutual contact between the carriage I2 and base I I, the accuracy of the machine tool is maintained while the effective weight of the carriage I2 is reduced to thus reduce wear on parts and lessen the energy required to move the carriage [2 relative to the base ll.

The'bearing has been shown as a roller bearing [6 although it will be obvious that other antifriction bearings may be used, such as needle bearings or ball bearings. The plane intersecting the shaft axis and the second axis 23 has been shown as parallel to the plane of the bearing surface portion l5. This is not essential; however, it provides the maximum efficiency of, the cylindrical eccentric portion 28.

the practical case to adequately and symmetrically support carriage l2 relative to the base ll. Although the invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of par-,

devices would 7 ticularity, it isunderstoodthat the present disclosure of the preferred form hasbeen made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is:

l. A weight compensator for a slide element of a lathe having a V-way and a flat way, said ways being substantially parallel and defining a substantially horizontal path, said slide element having a complementary V-way slidably cooperating with the V-way of said lathe due to gravitational force, said slide element having a body with a surface disposed above but spaced from the fiat way of said lathe and having a recess in said body above said flat way, said weight compensator comprising, first and second bearings in said recess and fastened to said body and defining a substantially horizontal axis above said fiat way, a shaft having first and second ends journaled in said bearings, first and second portions on said shaft between-said ends, said first portion being cylindrical and having an axis eccentrically disposed relative to said bearing axis and parallel to said bearing axis at a first distance, an antifriction bearing journaled on said first cylindrical portion and having a diametersufficient to expose a small portion of the periphery thereof out of said recess for rolling engagement with said fiat way, a lever arm having first and second ends and disposed inside said recess, said first end of said arm being fastened to said second portion of said shaft, a threaded aperture in said slide element having an axis directed substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal dimension of said arm and intersecting the second end of said arm at a second distance from the axes of said shaft ends, a threaded plug threaded into said aperture, and a compression spring compressed between said threaded plug and the second end of said arm toq urge said arm in'a given rotational direction, said spring being compressible by said threaded plug to urge said antifriction bearing into engagement with said flat way to relieve a portion of the sliding friction due to gravity between said cooperating V-ways.

2. A weight compensator for a slide element of a lathe having a V-way and a fiat way, said ways being substantially parallel and defining a substantially horizontal path, said slide element having a complementary V-way slidably cooperating with the V-way of said lathe due to gravitational force, said slide element having a body with a surface disposed above but spaced from the fiat way of said lathe and having a recess in said body above said flat way, said weight compensator comprisingfirst and second sleeve bearings in said recess and fastened to said body and defining a substantially horizontal axis above said flat way, a shaft having first and second ends journaled in said sleeve bearings, first and second cylindrical portions on said shaft between said ends, said first cylindrical portion having an axis eccentrically disposed relative to said bearing axis and parallel tosaid bearing axis at a first distance, a roller bearing journaled on said first cylindrical portion and having a diameter sufficient to expose a small portion of the periphery thereof out of said recess for rolling engagement with said fiat way, said second cylindr ical portion of said shaft being concentric with said sleeve bearing axis, a lever arm having first and second ends and disposed inside said recess, said first end of said arm having a;cylindrical bore disposed about and keyed to said second cylindrical portion of said shaft, a threaded aperture in said slide element having an axis directed substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal dimension oi. said arm and intersecting the second end of said arm at a second distance from said sleeve bearing axis, a threaded plug threaded into said aperture, and a coil compression spring compressed between said threaded plug and the second end of vsaid arm to urge said arm in a given rotational direction, said spring being compressible by said threaded plug to urge said roller bearing intoengagement with said flat way to relieve a portion of the sliding friction due to gravity between said cooperating V-ways,',and the ratio of said second distance to said first distance on said lever arm providing a mechanical advantage oi iorce applied to said eccentrically disposed "roller bearing, a reference line REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATEN'I'S Number Name Date 447,015 Reiss Feb. 24, 1891 1,381,188 Gury June 14, 1921 1,926,828 Van Berkel Sept. 12, 1933 2,045,464 Harley June 23, 1936 

